Digital business strategy- the typical case of a German manufacturing SME

Abstract

It is the existence of a digital strategy that has shown to be significant in determining whether or not digitalization is successful in a commercial context. Taking into account several literature findings, the construct of digital strategy in relation to contextual factors is identified as crucial. It is apparent that well-established, traditional organizations tend to struggle with digitalization. Identified theory was taken into account and investigated during an exploratory single case study at a traditional German manufacturing company. This thesis paper identifies several factors that impact on how well organizations manage digitalization. First, companies do not fully understand what digitalization means and secondly, the digital strategy development process is often unstructured and lacking clarity. Moreover, traditional companies are hindered in achieving their digital potential by their hierarchical structure and organizational culture. In order to support companies in the development of a digital strategy a guiding framework was developed.